Abortion's graphic reality

Since the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, Americans have had the federally protected right to abort a baby before birth. The debate since then often has devolved into political posturing about Òchoice.Ó As a result, many people today don't understand the reality of what abortion involves. Mike Spielman is out to fix that.

Abort73.com, Spielman's Web site, has been able to accomplish what a lot of debating elsewhere hasn't: changing uninformed minds. With logical conclusive evidence and graphic images, the site has led to numerous testimonials from readers who say they now understand why abortion is wrong.

Spielman, 31, recently spoke with News Editor John W. Kennedy.

tpe: Why did you devise this Web site?

SPIELMAN: I had been Òpro-lifeÓ but not at all active. In many ways I thought it was a distraction from Òreal ministry.Ó That changed a year after I graduated from college when I went to a seminar presented by Gregg Cunningham of the Center for Bioethical Reform. He made a compelling case that abortion is not a political issue; it's a love-your-neighbor issue.

In 1999 I started working for CBR. I was struck by how clear-cut the case against abortion is from a purely secular standpoint. The overwhelming medical and biological evidence establishes that human life begins at fertilization. I spent a lot of time on college campuses with CBR's Genocide Awareness Project (a huge photo mural exhibit comparing abortion with other crimes against humanity). I saw a lot of minds change, but I wanted a way to simultaneously extend that education to students across the country, including high schoolers.

tpe: Devising a Web site has allowed people to come to you.

SPIELMAN: It seemed like the more polished pro-life Web sites had a lot of details about a particular organization, but were thin when it came to actually educating about abortion. I wanted a site that took better advantage of the educational opportunities provided by the World Wide Web, while giving pro-life students some practical tools. I incorporated Loxafamosity Ministries in 2004 and abort73.com soon followed.

tpe: Why do the facts about abortion need to be presented so explicitly?

SPIELMAN: When I went to that CBR seminar it was a graphic video that really hit me hard. It was no longer abstract. The shocking pictures motivated me to get going. I want people to see what abortion does. Then the likelihood that they will go through with it decreases dramatically.

tpe: You have girls e-mailing you crying and confessing.

SPIELMAN: We give girls the opportunity on the Web site to talk about what a miserable experience abortion has been in an effort to convince other girls not to follow the same course.

tpe: Most of your readers are younger?

SPIELMAN: Yes, if you look at the feedback section, most are student-age — the ones we're trying to reach. A massive site overhaul scheduled for this summer will better position us on all the key abortion-related search terms, and we're building in more social networking features for students who are active in doing something about abortion.

tpe: Have you been threatened?

SPIELMAN: I've received some pretty angry and nasty e-mails. Spiritual warfare accompanies this work since Satan has an interest in maintaining the abortion status quo. I've done campus evangelism, but I've never faced such hatred and animosity in sharing the gospel as I have when talking about abortion.